Healey Barn - Melissa and Alex

Laughter, fun and emotion, warm people with warm hearts, stunning light for a late afternoon walk in the woods and a wonderfully atmospheric venue.  All words that go together to describe Melissa and Alex's wedding at Healy Barn last year.

Handing over to Melissa to let her tell us about their day...

How did you meet? How did he propose? What is your story?: 'Alex and I met at secondary school; he was 2 years older than me and once I got his attention we were inseparable. We were childhood sweethearts! 9 years later we bought our first home and I never thought Alex was actually going to propose. But in 2015, on a very wet and windy holiday in the lake district; he got down on one knee and proposed. I cried and cannot even remember saying yes but it was perfect.'

What was the inspiration behind your wedding?: 'We always wanted a very relaxed and laid back affair and Healey Barn was actually the only venue we visited. We loved the setting and rustic nature of the barn and booked it straight away. We didn't want a traditional wedding and Healey Barn was the perfect escape from this. We chose not to have a specific theme for our day but the tables were each named after a family from Game of Thrones - the head table obviously being Stark.'

What was the most memorable or your favorite part of your wedding day?: 'We loved absolutely every minute of our wedding day from getting ready, seeing Alex waiting for me at the end of the aisle and enjoying the company of all of our family and friends. Our favourite part was dancing to our amazing wedding band on the evening.'

Why was photography important to you and why did you choose 2tone Photography ?: 'We both agreed that this was the most important choice to us as we wanted the pictures to be perfect and capture the memories forever. We met Nigel and Chrissie at a wedding fair at Healey Barn and loved their work and how they managed to capture natural moments rather than any forced poses. They are both very friendly and we felt at ease with them, which was so important for our wedding day as we wanted everything to be relaxed. We like the fact that it was a husband and wife partnership and they work so well together, each capturing different moments for us to look back on. They were excellent to work with and cannot thank them enough, everyone was so impressed with them on the day! The pictures they captured are amazing and their attention to detail made it really difficult to narrow the pictures down for the album.'

What is your favorite part of being married now?: 'We are expecting our first child next year and we are looking forward to raising a family of our own. We cannot wait for all of the exciting moments we are going to share in future.'

Do you have any advice for brides and grooms who are currently in the planning process?: 'We planned everything very gradually and did not feel stressed or worried about it at all. The best thing to do is remember that it is your wedding day and therefore choose what you want and pick what will make you happy. It should be an enjoyable planning process trying on suits / dresses and eating plenty of wedding cake! The day goes unbelievably fast so make sure you both enjoy it and take a moment to yourselves to take it all in.'

Venue: Healey Barn

Venue styling: Emma Bunting

The wedding dress: Mori Lee

The men's suits: Moss Bros

Wedding cake: Dreamworld Cakes

Flowers: Healey Flowers

Hair and Make up: Hair - Kerry Mobile Hairdressing. Make Up - Lucy Matthews Make-Up Artist.

Entertainment: The Emerald Thieves

Photobooth: Limelight Photobooth

Light up letters: Coco Luminaire

Transport: Lovedub Cars

Healey Barn - Helen and David

Healey Barn is the beautiful new wedding venue in Northumberland, located close to Riding Mill and Corbridge, accessible yet still rural.  It's rolling landscapes, surrounding woodlands, and countryside lanes sit it in one of the most beautiful area's of northumberland and the traditional barn buildings offer a cosy candlelit interior, dark beams and wonderful views of the surrounding area.  Sheltered by the farm buildings themselves is a charming courtyard perfect for relaxing with friends and enjoying the fire pits in the evening.   

As you can most likely tell, I completely love this venue, it seems to have everything you could possibly want from a venue for a relaxed wedding, and for those like us who have a love of the outdoors it's a no brainer really!  

We first heard about Healey Barn back in September 2014 while it was still in it's planning stages. Our bride an groom Kirsty and Adam getting married at Healey Barn got in touch and told us all about the exciting new venue, showed us the plans and booked us for their wedding this coming June.  I could hardly wait to work there for the first time and so I was delighted when only 12 weeks before their wedding last summer, Helen and David got in touch to book us for their Healey Barn wedding.  We first met Helen and David at Helen's sister Laura's wedding at Doxford Hall in the summer of 2014.  We all hit if off so well at Laura's wedding so to return to photograph for the family was an honour and a delight.

Helen and David's amazing wedding day was to be the 9th wedding after Healey Barn's opening, and the first Military wedding at the venue.  It was one of the prettiest weddings I have ever attended, filled with soft pastel shades, delicate florals and details inspired by nature.  The couple themselves, warm hearted, fun and completely besotted with one another surrounded by some pretty amazing people to help celebrate the day with.  

I got in touch with Helen and David who are now living in America to fill me in a little on a few more details of the day.  Helen says:

"I knew exactly what I wanted for the table arrangements and exactly where to get the flowers from, so I decided to do all of the table arrangements myself!  Courtesy of my parents and grandparents gardens, that's here I found the beautiful flowers!!  So the day before the wedding off I went with my garden shears.

We planned the whole wedding within just 12 weeks (due to David's RAF posting to the US), with so many ideas floating around this seemed the perfect option and gave chance to add some of our own creativity.  We managed to pull off exactly what we wanted with this personal touch which I am very proud of!  I wouldn't ave done it any other way and without the help of family and friends, who I'd say were our room stylists (they followed orders perfectly)."

After their wedding, we got in touch with Letty and Leanne from Healey Barn to thank them for the wonderful day and to show them a few pictures from the day.  We were simply overjoyed when they asked us to join forces with them and become a recommended supplier for the venue.  We were incredibly proud and honoured to accept their invitation.

A talented team came together to help make Helen and David' day perfect.  The bride sourced her stunning dress from the Wedding dress company in Corbridge, Lisa Cameron styled the bride and bridesmaid's hair working alongside Kristina from KF makeup.   The lads who wore suits from Burtons - except the groom who for part of the day wore his RAF military No. 1's got ready for the day at the Lord Crewe Arms.  The bridesmaids dresses were sourced from the high street and became a good find from Miss Selfridges.  The beautiful wedding bouquets were from Jackie Fox in Gosforth with the fireplace garland by Flowers unlimited.  The table runners and table setting stand were by the finishing touch company, the cake was made by Zoe's cakes in West Moor and the the Ice Cream van was hired from the Parlour at Blagdon.  Coco Luminnaire and AMDJ were hired for the evening.  It just goes to show, that with a little careful planning creativity what you can achieve in just 12 weeks!

Helen and David, it was amazing to work with you both, your sense of fun, creativity and love for one another is inspiring.  We both wish you the very best for your new lives together in America and look forward to seeing you at your cousin's wedding at the end of May! x